October 31, 2010, Sunday Halloween in the US and my 50th

It's true what they say about turning 50. I got up and looked in the mirror and did not recognize that person. How did this happen? I've just been going about my business, living my life, raising my family. All of a sudden this older woman with wrinkly eyes is looking back at me. Who is she? How did she get to look like this? Where did the 20's, 30's and even 40's go? Not to sure about this. It kind of threw me off for the day.
I meandered back into the room, after my rude awakening with reality, where Eric and Taylor were still sleeping and looked at Eric's watch. Oh no! We overslept, it was after 9:00 and we have 10:30 reservations for the Uffizi Gallery that were very pricey to get. And heaven forbid we should miss our wonderful buffet breakfast. I woke Taylor and Eric and we dressed warmly for what looked to be a very wet day. We hurried down to breakfast only to find another couple looking confused and wondering where breakfast was. No one else was to be found. We were just about to head out for the bus when in came the girls who prepare breakfast. There had been a time change and we were clueless to it. Perfect for us though, because now we can have breakfast and still get to the gallery on time. We enjoyed another wonderful breakfast, packed up the umbrellas and made our way to the Gallery. We found many lines when we arrived and because we had advance reservations we were sure the shortest line was where we should be. We stood in that only to find that it was for information of where to stand in line if you have reservations, so we made our way to that line. We stood in that line to get our tickets so that we could stand in line to get into the gallery. It was all a little crazy considering I paid an extra 30 Euro, 42 USD to not have to stand in line. It really wasn't too bad though, when you consider those without reservations were standing in a 2 to 3 hour line. In the rain. Anyway, this is obviously a very popular tourist spot. Touring of this museum began in 1591 making it the oldest museum in the world. It is massive and is filled with sculptures and paintings from long, long ago. We saw paintings from Michelango, Leonardo Davinci and many more famous painters. We saw sculptures and sculptures and more sculptures. If you love art and history you must see this gallery. This was the perfect day to stroll the gallery because it was not nice outside. Very rainy.

After the Gallery we were starving and hopped into one of the first restaurants we came across to get out of the rain. It turned out to be really neat with very good pizza made like they enjoy in the Southern region of Italy. The sauce was a little different and the pizza crust edge was just a little thicker, but not thick compared to pizza at home. Again, very good. We shared a slice of cheesecake that was very light and fluffy for dessert. Yum, more good eating.

After lunch we purchased another umbrella and did some more leisurely sightseeing amongst the many other umbrella laden people in the city. I was amazed at how many people were out in the rain on a Sunday in late October. I can't imagine what this city is like during high tourist season. We did a bit more shopping, and tired of the wet,  we headed back to our B&B. The hike up the gravel road was wet and muddy and we were all feeling a bit travel weary. I think the weather was getting to us. We changed into dry comfortable clothes and discussed dinner plans. None of us were too excited to go back out into the wet and mud in the dark, so we broke out the few snacks we had left from our travel, and sat on our bed and played cards all evening listening to the rain. I had a terrible headache and Eric went into the kitchen and made me some tea. It tasted really good. So that was Halloween and my birthday. Not quite what we had in mind, Taylor and I didn't get our grappa or limoneade after dinner drinks, but we just couldn't do the rain and mud again. We did get a visit from the gray cat that lives on the grounds and made great friends with Taylor and Eric. But no trick or treaters! We set the alarm this time for an early morning to catch a taxi to the train station.